Using Oracle Exachk on Oracle Big Data Appliance

Understand the features and learn to perform tasks specific to Oracle Exachk on Oracle Big Data Appliance.

Scope and Supported Platforms for Running Oracle Exachk on Oracle Big Data Appliance

Oracle Exachk for Oracle Big Data Appliance supports Oracle Big Data Appliance versions later than 2.0.1.

Oracle Exachk for Oracle Big Data Appliance audits important configuration settings across the Oracle Big Data Appliance environment.

Oracle Exachk examines the following components:

CPU
Hardware, firmware, and BIOS
Operating system kernel parameters and system packages
Ethernet network and InfiniBand switches
RAM and hard disks
Installed software

Goals of Oracle Big Data Appliance Health Checks

Oracle Big Data Appliance health checks are intended to:

Provide a mechanism to proactively and reactively assess the overall health of an Oracle Big Data Appliance.
Provide recommendations and best practices for addressing known Oracle Big Data Appliance issues.

Recommended Validation Frequency

Oracle recommends running Oracle Exachk:

Immediately after the initial deployment.
Before and after any change to the environment.
At least once every quarter as part of planned maintenance.

The time required to complete Oracle Exachk depends on factors such as:

Number of nodes being checked.
CPU load.
Network latency.
Overall system activity.

Note:

Run Oracle Exachk when the Oracle Big Data Appliance has a lower system load. This helps reduce the likelihood of timeouts during health checks.

Running Compliance Checks on Oracle Big Data Appliance Using Oracle Exachk

Use the exachk compliance -h command to view the options supported for Oracle Big Data Appliance.

Note:

Run Oracle Exachk as root from node1 of the Oracle Big Data Appliance cluster.

Most data collection options require a password for each InfiniBand switch when SSH user equivalency is not configured between the compute node running Oracle Exachk and the switches.

To view the available command options, run the following command as either root or a non-root user:
```
exachk -h
```
Note:
If you specify a profile that is not supported on Oracle Big Data Appliance, Oracle Exachk returns an error similar to the following:
```
<profile_name> is not supported component. EXAchk will run generic checks for components identified from environment
```
To run all supported checks, including best practice checks and recommendations, use the -a option:
```
exachk -a
```
Note:
If you do not specify any command-line options, Oracle Exachk runs with the -a option by default.

Reviewing Oracle Big Data Appliance Compliance Check Output

Review the Oracle Exachk results to identify issues that require immediate remediation and findings that require further investigation because they could affect system performance or stability.

The following message statuses are used for Oracle Exachk checks on Oracle Big Data Appliance:

Message Status	Description or Possible Impact	Action to Be Taken
FAIL	Indicates that the check did not pass because an issue was detected.	Address the issue immediately.
WARNING	Indicates an issue that could affect system performance or stability if it is not addressed.	Investigate the issue further.
INFO	Provides information about the system or the environment.	Review the information and follow any instructions provided by the check.

Use the compliance report to prioritize findings and determine the appropriate corrective action.

Troubleshooting Oracle Exachk on Oracle Big Data Appliance

In addition to the general Oracle Exachk troubleshooting procedures, the following considerations apply specifically to Oracle Exachk on Oracle Big Data Appliance.

If you encounter problems while running Oracle Exachk, create a service request through My Oracle Support.

For the latest known issues specific to Oracle Exachk on Oracle Big Data Appliance, see My Oracle Support Doc ID 1643715.1.

Timeouts Checking Switches

If SSH communication with an InfiniBand switch is slow, Oracle Exachk can time out while attempting to run root-privileged commands on the switch.

An error similar to the following can be displayed:

Starting to run root privileged commands in background on INFINIBAND SWITCH <cluster>sw-ib1.
Timed out
Unable to create temp directory on <cluster>sw-ib1
Skipping root privileged commands on INFINIBAND SWITCH <cluster>sw-ib1
<cluster>sw-ib1 is available but SSH is blocked.

To resolve this issue, increase the SSH timeout using the RAT_PASSWORDCHECK_TIMEOUT environment variable.

Set the timeout value:
```
export RAT_PASSWORDCHECK_TIMEOUT=40
```
Rerun Oracle Exachk:
```
exachk -a
```